Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In a career that spanned sixty years, Alfred Hitchcock made more than fifty feature-length films and hosted his own television series, transforming the thriller genre in the twentieth century. Author Laurent Bouzereau puts this incredible canon into perspective, examining the master's life thematically: his archetypal anti-heroes; his complicated female characters; his charming villains; and something Bouzereau calls "the Hitchcock touch" -- those elements of film that are, quite simply, Hitchcockian.With a foreword by Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, Hitchcock, Piece by Piece is packed with photographs from the family's archive, many of which have never been published before, plus removable facsimile memorabilia such as letters, memos, and snapshots, which frame the story of the director's life and work.Praise for Hitchcock, Piece by Piece:"Few people alive know as much about Hitchcock as Bouzereau." --Leonard Maltin

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

After the hundreds of books that have been published about Alfred Hitchcock, it would seem that nothing remained to be unearthed regarding the celebrated director; but a new coffee-table book raids the Hitchcock family archives for rare photos, many heretofore unpublished. Even more fascinating are facsimile reproductions of memorabilia, housed in pouches; these scrapbook-type items, offering tactile, hands-on perusal in this digital age, include memos and handwritten notes, family snapshots, storyboards, and Hitchcock's birth and marriage certificates. The book's text is rather less distinctive perhaps there's little left to be said about the work of this most obsessed-over of filmmakers but film historian Bouzereau avoids the standard chronological approach to Hitchcock's lengthy career by presenting his observations thematically in chapters devoted to Hitchcock's wrong man protagonists and antiheroes, his complicated women, his strangely compelling villains, and his distinctive stylistic touches. If these portions are largely rehashes of both the films' plots and existing commentaries they'll be new to most casual moviegoers, while hard-core cinephiles will relish the rarities on display in this minor but diverting addition to the voluminous shelves of Hitchcockiana.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2010 Booklist